[Editor's Note: This is part 1 of a multi-part series of articles on the Grant County Commission work session of Aug. 10, 2021. It covers the conference center report.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The first report and update to the commissioners at their first work session of August came from Steve Chavira, executive officer of the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, which also has a contract to manage the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center.

"We had a crazy year in 2020," Chavira said. "My goal for today is to bring you up to speed on where we are with conference center management."

The facility shut down on March 13, 2020, and remained closed for the rest of the year. "We had to cancel and try to reschedule all the events that had been set up for the year. Some have started coming back. One scheduled for that date of March 13 managed to move to another location. Based on what we already had scheduled, it would have been a stellar year for the center. So far, we're on track for an exciting year for 2021. I thank you for renewing our contract."

He noted that the only events that took place at the conference center last year were county-sponsored events, such as executive sessions.

"We have three categories of events at the center," Chavira said. "The first are county-sponsored, which incur no charge for use of the facility. Second are chamber events, for which we may not necessarily charge, but we recognize the revenue. The third are community-partnered events. We collect rentals, which are reimbursed to the county. We put the rentals into a pool. Our goal this year is reaching $80,000. Then after that there is a fee split for the rest of the year.

"Essentially what we are doing is preparing reports every two weeks," Chavira continued. "The deposit of $250 is immediately returned to the group renting, if there are no issues with the rental."

He said he met on July 7 with former County Manager Charlene Webb and Interim County Manager Randy Villa. "For our portion of the contract, we submit an invoice every month for $6,666, which is ultimately reimbursed to the county as part of the agreement."

Chavira said when July 2021 hit, it was hard, because of a death in his family and trying to keep the July Fourth event going.

He noted an error on the July 16-31 booking report that will be corrected in the August report. He said he failed to enter a chamber event, which was for the Silver Schools superintendent meet and greet.

"We have a good mix of private and community partner events, as well as small county ones planned from Aug. 1-Dec. 31," Chavira reported. "I plan to give you monthly reports. Overall, I believe we are in a positive position. I see no reason why we cannot bring in about $100,000 to the county each year. With what we had booked in 2020, we had projected $92,000. We have had so many requests this year, we've had to refuse some. We feel that from May 1, 2021, which is when our contract runs, we think we can be in the $100,000 range or perhaps north of that."

District 3 Commissioner Alicia Edwards said she appreciates all that Chavira and his team have done at the conference center.

District 5 Commissioner Harry Browne asked county staff if they account internally for the county events. Financial Officer Linda Vasquez confirmed they do, with a separate account.

The next article will cover the Grant County Health Council report and include an update from the Covid-19 Task Force.